No Bodies Children
by xThatKidInTheSkyx
Summary: Born not of blood, but of skin, and bound to this world by a thread, we exist. We are one; we are many. Our story is done when we lose hold. "You can't leave me alone."
1. One

1.

Vanille was the one who pointed out that everything more or less began the day the two woke up.

Lightning came home to an empty house that day. Serah, who was normally home by then, had lost track of time reading up on what little there was on the Vestige in the library.

Snow spent the day planning the very same monster hunt that would end in him meeting lightning for the first time.

Sazh received a bonus, and that was what made him decide to surprise Dajh with a trip to the Euride Gorge.

Hope found out his dad couldn't make the trip to Bodhum that day.

And me? I think I would have been involved no matter what because of what I am.

But stories that end have to begin somewhere, right?


	2. Two

2.

If Cocoon were a white shirt, Sub Rosa would be the stain someone's knocked over coffee created, a hot and sticky brown permanence that the surrounding white was forced to accept exists. The rails of the balcony had brown specks that flaked at my touch; when I peered through the rails, the walkway below was spotted with the same brown; I looked at the vents on low rooftops and they, too, were plagued with brown.

Sub Rosa, as Elena described it, was Cocoon's little secret, the one place that wasn't made of buildings reaching fifty floors at minimum, the one place the commercials won't call "a great place for family living."

I liked the brown stained city. We used to live in East Side of Sub Rosa. It was my fault we moved to West Side.

I watched the people on the walkway five floors below go about their day. Mostly older folks were out. In East Side there were more houses than apartments, and they even had more space between them where some kids could play. There's just a main walkway in West Side, and in the two days since the move I had yet to hear anyone playing anywhere.

A loud banging made me jump and my thoughts scattered. I scrambled off the balcony, locked it, and tossed the key into a nearby plant. The knocking persisted. I breathed and slowed in my efforts. Elena had the key, the person at the door did not.

"Hello? Anyone there? Don't be shy, we're all friendly in this building." I stopped moving all together. I was not allowed to be seen anymore. If she thought no one was here, maybe she'd go away. "I know someone's in there, your light is on," the voice slurred. My eyes flicked up to said offending lights overhead.

"Listen, my wife and I like to gather up some residents and eat on the roof. I know you just moved in, but if you decide to be social, just come up. We don't bite." Heels clicked down the hall, away from the door.

I stepped over crayons and paper scattered on the floor as I closed in on the light switch, flicked it off, and headed to my room. The sliding door to the balcony elbowed its way into my line of sight on the way. I scrunched my nose. I wanted to go back out, but it wasn't safe when Elena would get off work soon anyway. I forced myself into my bedroom and pulled out a puzzle with the imaginings of the sounds and sights and smells of the party above lurking in the back of my mind.

It was at the sound of the door opening some time later that I remembered the chaos of drawings littering the living room. A name echoed throughout the apartment along with shrieks of disgust at the mess. I scrambled up of the floor.

No one living here goes by that name, but I knew she meant to call for me.


	3. Three

3.

The clouds were still, shielding Sub Rosa from Phoenix's light. I stared up at the ledge of the roof, my head tiled to the side. My palms were pressed flat against the buildings outer wall. I curled my fingers inward and my felt my nails scratch the surface.

When Elena left she always locked the door with the house key, naturally to keep a person from entering. Then came the clank of chain on wood and the click of the latch on the other side, naturally to keep me from exiting. The woman at the door the other day, though, had me thinking about another route out. I just needed a way up there.

I was standing on a chair had I dragged out onto the balcony. It wasn't tall enough to reach the roof, but I noticed the pipe running up the wall certainly was. I glanced to my right and over the railing. Five floors down, the ground glared back at me. I took in a real big breath and brought my foot up onto the first metal ring that bulged from the pipe. I reached, dug my nails into the next metal ring further up and pulled.

Sweat immediately worked to make my hands slippery. With a very wide gap between the rings and no booster chair, things quickly became difficult. I leaped to get my hands to grip the next ring, my foot pushing up off the wall. I dangled for a few seconds and the wind and my heart picked up speed. My grip was only just saved by my feet finding the ring to stand on.

Small hands strained to grip the roof ledge, and my face scrunched up as I struggled pull myself over it. I lifted a leg up and rocked all my weight forward. The world rolled. I gasped when my side hit the roof top.

My eyes locked on the door and I made myself forget the pain. I stood and ran, the door slamming against the wall when I shoved it open, and every step echoing within stairwell as I descended. I only thought to stop when I reached the bottom floor.

I stood before the exit breathless and shaking with the aching need to _get out_ , but I shoved it behind layers of empty calm. I brought my fingers to my cheeks and felt the few solid masses that appeared on my face recede. I flipped up the hood of my oversized white jacket and zipped it up all the way, past my neck and lips so that only my eyes could be seen. I adjusted the thin gloves I wore, checked that the hem of my pants hadn't ridden up during the climb, and smoothed out my skirt. I went through my check again. All the right places were covered.

I stepped forward, pushed the handlebar on the door, and walked out into the city.


	4. Four

4

 _I skirted around every couple, wormed my way through groups of giggling girls, and dodged a delivery man who couldn't quite see over the massive package he carried, all with a trained indifference that was rapidly being overtaken by fascination._

A woman brushed past me, in a hurry, and I sucked in a breath at the sudden contact. I ducked out of the crowd of people on the main walkway, turning into a much smaller path. I leaned against a wall, breathing through my nose to steady my mind.

I needed to focus, focus, focus, I repeated in my head. Yet the events from the past few ours wouldn't stop playing in my head.

 _Out here though everyone is faster everyone moved faster, like those kids who played tag in the alley my old bedroom faced. I watched them lots of times, listened for their muffled laughter, ducked out of sight when they ran past. Those were the kinds of kids I wanted to find. People walked left and right and up and down, and I slipped around everyone, lost._

Random conversations slipped into my ear as I continued on.

"...all of them ended because we had nothing in common!"

"...patient, the trailer's not going to..."

"Don't you just hate it when people..."

"...so she ended up making all of us sick..."

 _"I said he's it, now run!" That sentence made me backtrack a little, to the mouth of a small walkway._

 _It was a swarm of energy, climbing up, sliding down, around and around, chasing and laughter, steady hands patting mounds of sand and buckets and shovels clattering, but it was the rhythmic squeaking that caught my attention. These kids were flying, feet kicking the sky, and if it weren't for the metal that kept them in place, back and forth like the steady beat of a song, I bet they could launch themselves to Phoenix._

Phoenix had set and Eden shined bright in the dark sky. The wind tugged at my dress. I pulled the hood of my jacket down even further. I kept my head low, because the last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to myself.

 _I was drawn toward these things, these swings, nearly stumbling when the ground under me changed from solid to shifting sand. I trudged through, paying little notice to the grains already collecting in my shoes. The seat sank when I sat and I gripped the chain to stay steady. Curiously, it held me._

 _I sat there for a moment. I didn't know how to make it fly. I brought both my legs up in a fluid kick, but nothing happened. I bit the inside of my cheek and tried mimicking the kid in the first swing. I rocked, leaning forward and backwards and saw that I was sort of moving, but not nearly as high as the girl I watched._

Signs were everywhere on the walkway. They were no help. I didn't know where I was going anymore than I knew how to read.

 _"What're you doing?" I whirled around towards the source of the voice. A boy had settled on the third swing. 'You look dumb."_

 _I stopped rocking and looked away._

 _"Kick off. It's easier." From the corner of my eye, I watched his feet shuffle back against the ground so that he half leaned into the seat and half stood. Then he pushed off the ground._

 _I quickly copied and kicked off the ground. My insides lurched as I sailed forward, and I cringed when a terrible weightlessness came over me before the swing dragged me backwards._

 _"Why are you stopping?" he yelled. I looked at the boy, looked at how his legs kicked out when he went forward and curled in when he swung back, and I tried it. My insides tingled worse and worse the higher I went, but I was hearing the wind cut through the air, seeing my feet tap the clouds. Behind the cover of the jacket, I smiled._

 _"Now jump!" I heard. I swung back and saw the swing seat beside me flailing wildly, empty. I sung forward and let go._

 _I landed in a slight crouch, but otherwise unfaltering._

I stumbled and fell face first. I didn't bother to stand again, only shuffling into the shadow of the booth I tripped beside, out of the way and out of sight. I was breathing too hard. I had to stay calm to keep from slipping up.

 _"Woah." My smile faded. I rose and turned to the wide-eyed boy several feel behind me. I chilled. Did he see them? Did I do something wrong? I was being careful, so what–_ _?_

 _"You beat Rami," he said, as if testing the words. He ran off towards the playground set. "She beat Rami! She beat Rami!" I could hear him scream._

 _"Who beat Rami?"_

 _"Liar! No one jumps higher than Rami."_

 _The_ _kids_ _stopped their games to buzz_ _around_ _the blond boy now. "She didn't even move yet! I swear she landed right there!" he said. I shifted in place when eyes looked my way._

 _"Then she can do it again. Right?" a new voice said. This new boy with black wild hair approached me and the crowd from the playground entrance. He was over a head taller than me, I noted warily. In fact, most of the kids towered over me. They all looked to be around ten-years-old. "Well?"_

 _I blinked. I had no idea what the blond boy was screaming to the kids in the first place. The black haired boy, Rami, squinted at me. 'You new?"_

 _I nodded slowly._

 _His faced twitched, "well in this_ _park_ _you gotta jump." He puffed his chest out a little. "You say you can jump off a swing higher than me? Prove it."_

 _"I saw it with my own eyes Rami! She beat you by miles."_

 _"Shut up, Sans. I wasn't here so it don't count." He was already moving to hop on a swing. When he's in the air he shouts to me, "I though you said you were_ _going_ _to beat me!"_

 _I din't move. Sans, the_ _blond_ _boy, shoves me not at all lightly towards the swing besides Rami. "Don't make me look stupid. Do your thing," he hissed under his breath. I fumbled into the seat and swung._

 _"Quit taking your time and jump already," Rami called. He was already marking where he landed._

 _I swung forward once, twice, three times, and then let go. I landed in the same manner as before, the same place even. It was still far past where Rami landed._

 _The crowd of kids became a frenzy around me. Sans relished in his 'I told you so' moment with them, leaving me to face the black haired boy stalking up to me._

"Hey, girl."

I jerked away from the voice on instinct.

"Relax, relax," the voice said. A man leaned over the edge of the booth and peered down at me. "Are you lost? You look a little bit too young to know how to get around by yourself."

 _"You're what, six?" He said in my face. I back away reflexively. "How'd you jump like that? Who the heck are you anyway?" He grabbed my hood. My hands flew up to pry them off instantly, and suddenly we were playing tug-of-war with my hood. "I just wanna see your face girl!" he yells with a sharp yank back._

"Little girl." I blinked as the man's hand waved in front of my face. "I said so you know where you're going? Do you want a map? Or one of the Guardian Corps to take you home?"

He expected me to use words, I could tell. "Nuh-uh. I'm okay."

 _I fell on my back. "Wha_ _–_ _What's wrong with your face?" I_ _could_ _hear Rami stutter above me. My field of vision darkened as the bodies of kids crowded over me. The poked and pulled at my arms to get me to move them away from my face, and I willed them to leave me alone._

 _All of a sudden someone screamed "grown-up", and the kids fled._

Two big kids ran by, one snatching up a paper off the boot and sprinting to catch up to the other. Looking at the booth in more detail made me realize it was a tourist booth. All cities had one at all their entrance points to show off the most fun things you could do while they visited. The odd part was that this booth in particular was for Bodhum, not Sub Rosa.

I had never been to Bodhum before. I picked up one of the Bodhum fliers and flipped it over. Oceans and spas where the main images on it, but one picture in particular caught my attention. I waved for the man's attention, held up the flier, and pointed to it.

"Where?" I asked.

"Were is it?" He repeated, scratching the back of his head, "Not far. It's just down that way. Here." He pulled a map off the rack. "You'll see the signs." My nose crinkled at the word "signs", but I took the map all the same.

The same kids ran past as I headed in the direction the booth man pointed. I stared after them, watching a woman grab the two by their shirt collars and tell them to quit playing around. I heard them mutter "mom" and a string of apologies with their head hanging low.

 _"Miwa, my baby, what are you doing out here?" I heard above me. I didn't move. It didn't surprise me when the warmth in her voice disappeared with her next sentence. "Miwa, get up." She didn't wait for my reaction that time, and hauled me to my feet. My hands moved away from my face to pull my hood back up, but Elena knelt down and held my chin. "What did they see."_

 _"They..." was all I managed to say. Her eyes only hardened._

 _"Let's go." Elena pulled my hood up and led me out. She held back her tongue the entire walk back to the apartment. The moment she unlocked the door I shoved it aside and ran for my room._

 _"You little_ _–_ _! Get back here!"_

 _I slammed the door in her face and held it shut. "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!"_

 _"Are you trying to undo all the work I've done for you?" She fumed from the other side. She didn't even try to open it; we both knew I was stronger. "Do you know how hard I've worked to keep people from finding out?"_

 _"I just wanted to play!"_

 _"The last time you wanted to play, I had to convince an entire neighborhood you hadn't magically set that girl's dress on fire! We moved because of you!"_

 _"I'm sorry!"_

 _"What were you even thinking sneaking out like that? And letting those kids see your face? I could barely get people to dismiss those few kids insisting they never saw you with matches. How the hell am I supposed to reject twenty kids who–"_

 _"Elena, I'm sorry!" I was crying, and that was very bad._

 _"Sure the believed me when I said you weren't right in the head and just somehow found some matches, but this?"_

 _"Stop it.."_

 _"I trained you to keep your emotions and your clothes in check you stupid girl, how the hell could you let those kids see the–"_

 _"STOP IT!"_

I stopped in front of a sign making the beginning of a trail. I could easily see the tower-like structure above the neat cluster of treetops. I wanted to know what this place was called.

A woman half-walked and half-ran towards my direction. I figured she could tell me. "Excuse me."

"Oh, did you need something?"

"What's that called."

She glanced up at the tower I pointed at and smiled. "We call it the Pulse Vestige," she said.

"It's big."

"And quite the mystery."

"Huh?"

"No one knows what it does or what it was used for. Nothing I read gives any answers, either," she explained with a sigh. Her eyes seemed to gloss over as she stared up in deep thought. Then they widened. "I'm so sorry, but I need to get going. I hope that was helpful." Her pink side ponytail swished back and forth as she rushed off, kind of like a swing.

I was tired and didn't know what else to do now that I was here, so I curled up between two shrubs out of sight from the main path and gave into sleep.

 _The bed was on fire. I trembled uncontrollably in the corner, but at least I made myself stop crying. Elena frantically worked to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. She slumped to the floor when only the charred mattress remained._

 _"I'm done pretending," she started, breaking the silence, "that you're my little girl." Her voice was hoarse, maybe from the smoke, maybe from her own tears. "I don't care anymore. Get out."_

 _I stayed in my corner._

 _"I said get out, you freak! I want nothing to do with you anymore!"_

 _I could barely breathe._

 _"Get out!" She threw the extinguisher into the bookshelf beside me and I ran. My feet pounded down the hallway of the apartment complex as the echo of her words in my head chased me out._

* * *

 **I won't go back and rearrange the chapters anymore, so I'm really sorry if it confused any returning readers.**

 **I know what's going on (spoiler: I'm the writer), but I really like knowing how other people are taking in the story, so don't be shy! Leave a review!**

 **Anon Reviews:**

 **Vase - I'm not sure what you mean. She doesn't have a disability, if that's what you're asking.**


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